LEGAL VOCABULARY (words and phrases)

1. Accusation

 It is not, according to the fundamental law, synonymous with guilt. It is incumbent

on the prosecution to demonstrate that culpability lies. (People vs. Egot, 129 SCRA
96)

 It is the duty of the prosecution to overthrow the presumption of innocence with

proof beyond reasonable doubt.

 A person accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

2. Acknowledge

 To own as genuine, to assent to, to avow or admit. (De Castro vs. De Castro, 100
Phil. 239)

 Ex. acknowledge before a notary public – affirming the signature before a notary
public

acknowledgment of a natural child – your child born out of wedlock

3. Acquittal

 A verdict of not guilty, setting free a person from a formal accusation of crime.

 A finding by the court that the person accused is not guilty or the evidence does not
show his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It is always based on the merits.

4. Dismissal

 The case is terminated but there was no trial (reasons: lack of jurisdiction/no cause
of action)

 Maybe temporary or conditional, as well as final.

 If it is a dismissal on the merits, it is res judicata (settled); If it is dismissed without

prejudice, the proceeding may be renewed at another time.

5. Adjudicate

 To adjudge, arbitrate, decide, determine, resolve, rule, settle – in the exercise of

judicial authority
 Connected with the finality of judgment by the court

6. Alienation

 Transfer of property (ownership) from one person to another

7. Amendment of decision

 Before the finality of the decision or before appeal is perfected, the trial court has
the power motu propio or upon motion to amend its decision over substantial
matters to make it conform to law and justice.

 When the decision is amended, the date of the amendment should be considered as
the date of the final decision.

8. Ambiguity in contract

 The fact that a word or a phrase or the general sense of a document or part of it,
could equally apply to more than one thing or event.

 Any ambiguity in a contract whose terms are susceptible of different interpretations

must be read and construed against the party who drafted it on the assumption that it
could have been avoided by the exercise of the little care.

 A patent ambiguity is one that is at once seen to be such. A latent ambiguity is one
that appears only when it is attempted to carry out the terms of the document.

9. Annulment of contract

 Invalidating a contract

 Who may annul a contract? Those who are bound either principally or subsidiarily
may annul a contract

 Exception: A person who is prejudiced in his rights with respect to one of the
contracting parties and who can show the detriment which could positively result to
him from the contract in which he had no intervention.

10. Annulment of judgment

 Requisites: 1. Judgment is void for want of jurisdiction

2. Judgment is void for lack of due proceeding

 3. Judgment was obtained by fraud

11. En banc

 en means “in” and banc means “a judicial bench” i. e. the group of judges or justices
of the same court sitting together

 Applied to CTA, SB, CA (51 members), and SC(15 members), when they issue a
decision and opinion jointly.

 When a court has divisions, it often sits in bank as well to confirm a judgment in a
division or determine whether a hearing en banc shall be granted.

12. Decision

 The adjudication or settlement of a controversy.

 Judgment on the merits.

 It presupposes that the case was tried.

13. Resolution

 A formal decision, determination, or expression of an opinion by a deliberate body,

like a legislature, or by any assembly or meeting.

 The disposition of some incidents of the case.

14. Ponente

 The writer of the decision or the resolution in a collegiate court

15. Fallo

 The dispositive portion of a decision

16. Larceny

 The older name of theft. The taking of a personal property that is not yours but the
original taking is lawful on that there is consent of the owner.

17. Entrapment

 The employment of means and ways for the purpose of trapping and capturing any
law breaker
18. Crimes involving moral turpitude

 All crimes of which fraud or deceit is an element or those which are inherently
contrary to the rules of right conduct, honesty, or morality in a civilized society.

19. Deceit

 A false representation as to a matter of fact, a positive assertion of a falsehood.

There is deceit when an act is performed with deliberate intent.

20. discretion

 The range within which any person or body may act or decide without violating any
legal obligation to act or refrain from acting

21. Informer

 A person who gives information to a public prosecutor on the basis of which the
latter may prosecute someone for a crime.

 In many instances, an informer may, by statute, claim part of the penalty imposed if
the person accused is convicted. Informers of this sort are called common
informers.

22. In flagrante delicto

 Latin: In the act of doing the wrong or crime.

23. Judicial review

 The power of the courts to review statutes or administrative acts and to determine
their constitutionality.

24. Jump bail

 To forfeit bail by non-appearance in court or by some other failure to comply with a

condition upon which bail is granted.

25. Litigant

 One who conducts an action at law either as plaintiff or defendant.

26. Lobby
 The collective name of persons engaged in the task of urging or rejection of
legislative measures, by representations made to individual members of the
legislature or to legislative committees.

27. Lupong Tagapamayapa

 A body in each barangay which administers the system of amicably settling

disputes.

28. Malefactor

 A person guilty of a crime.

29. Malicious prosecution

 The instigating of a criminal prosecution without adequate reason or probable cause

to believe the person to be prosecuted is guilty.

 An action for damages for malicious prosecution will lie if the prosecution is
terminated in favor of the person bringing the action.

 To constitute malicious prosecution, there must be proof that the prosecution was
prompted by a sinister design to vex and humiliate a person that it was initiated
deliberately by the defendant knowing that his charges were false and groundless.

 Concededly, the mere act of submitting a case to the authorities for prosecution does
not make one liable for malicious prosecution.

30. Mediation

 The intervention of a third party in a dispute for the purpose of conciliating the
contending parties.

31. Moot

 Applied to an issue which during the course of a trial or pending an appeal has
ceased to have practical importance; as when an injunction is applied for to prevent
a situation that has disappeared, or when possession is sought of property that has
been destroyed.
32. Moral turpitude

 An act of moral turpitude is one which is dishonest, depraved, base or vile, and
contrary to good morals. The term includes everything which is done contrary to
justice, honesty, modesty or good morals.

 It implies something immoral in itself, regardless of the fact that it is punishable by

law or not. It must not merely be mala prohibita, but the act itself must be
inherently immoral. The doing of the act itself, and not its prohibition by statute
fixes the moral turpitude.